Apple Buys Social Media Analytics Company Topsy for Around $200 Million

For the time being, at least, Apple has turned its acquisitions ambitions away from mapping in favor of social media. As the Wall Street Journal reports (via 9to5 Mac), Apple's latest purchase is Topsy Labs Inc., which established a name for itself by pulling data from posts on social media venues such as Twitter and Google+. Apple is thought to have bought it for approximately $200 million, according to the report.

Why? No one really knows. When the WSJ tried to find out further information, they were presented with the same boilerplate response that we've heard earlier this year from the mapping acquisitions: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." Well, then.

Still, the Journal has some good--if obvious--ideas about how Apple might implement Topsy's data. On iTunes Radio, for instance, listeners might be alerted "to sounds that are trending or artists being discussed on Twitter." The data could also affect the ads found on iTunes Radio, thus offering advertisements to listeners based on whatever news is trending at the moment.

There's also a lot of data to choose from. Topsy's data for Twitter, for instance, reaches all the way back to 2006, and its site offers tools for comparing results from social media (again, with a heavy emphasis on Twitter).

As 9to5 Mac notes, Tim Cook noted in the Q4 conference call that the Cupertino giant has been making around one strategic acquisition every three to four weeks, suggesting that some great things might be on the horizon for 2014. Indeed, the acquisition of Topsy this late in 2013 could also mean that Apple might not yet be finished with its shopping spree for the year.